Have You Heard the Story of Four Sad Chairs?

Once upon a time there were four ugly and neglected chairs. They lived at a home full of people and pets but alas, no one paid much attention to the chairs. They really didn't have a special place to call their own and were frequently shuffled around the backyard. They were exposed to the elements and were often pelted with raindrops and the occasional hail and snow. There were also things like bird poo, grass clippings, and pine cones. To add insult to injury the chairs developed rust spots and their once white, pristine coats became dull and scratched. Yes, these four white chairs lived a sad and lonely existence.

And then one day, the mama of the family declared the chairs had suffered long enough. She wanted to restore the chairs to their original beauty and have them become an integral part of what she called, "Home."

First she put the call out to her friends to help her decide what color to paint the chairs. Suggestions ranged from turquoise to purple, to red, to blue, to orange, to black, to brown, to yellow, and yes even white. Some people even suggested painting each chair a different color. The mama appreciated all the feedback and ultimately decided to go with her favorite color red.

After spraying one chair red the mama was not too happy. Even after two cans of paint the color just wasn't right. This problem might have something to do with the fact that the mama didn't bother spraying a coat of primer first. She really didn't want to spend more money and time trying to fix her mistake, so the mama decided to live with the chair the way it was. 

During the same time as she was giving new life to her chairs, the mama was also in the process of sprucing up the small garden area of her front yard. She quickly realized the red chair would make a handsome addition to the garden and would fit right in with the Little Red Wagon that had once carted around two very cute and precocious little boys.

Continuing on with her painting project, the mama finally settled on another color for the remaining chairs. She chose a bright and sunny yellow. This time she dutifully primed first and then began the spraying of color. Two chairs were quickly brought to life. They glistened in the sunlight and brought a smile to the mama's face.

But, as beautiful as they were, for some reason the mama just couldn't bring herself to paint the fourth chair. Something kept telling her to hold on and wait. So that is what she did ...

Wait. And wait. And then wait some more.

However, all this waiting did not mean the mama was sitting idly by. The more she looked at her sunny yellow chairs the more she decided something was lacking. After perusing the black hole of the internet called Pinterest she finally realized her chairs needed a little light to shine on them ... because even though they were a bright and sunny color, the patio on which they sat became pitch black at night.

The mama put her crafty skills to use and through some trial and error made beautiful glowing jars of light. The light was obviously not bright enough for reading, but they created a warm ambiance and cast the most delightful shadows upon the surface on which they sat.

  

The mama stood back and admired her chairs and was quite pleased with what she saw. Even the papa commented on how nice things had turned out. But it should come as no surprise that there was still something just not right. There was still one chair, sitting all sad and neglected, wondering if she was the ugly duckling among the beautiful swans.

The mama could not stand seeing her sad lonely chair but she didn't want to rush into something she might regret later.Should she paint the fourth chair red? Should she just go with another yellow? Or, should she do something entirely different?  The mama scoured the internet and searched in magazines until she finally came up with a plan for her lone chair.

The fourth chair was going to be a unique, one-of-a-kind, masterpiece. First she covered the chair in primer, and then she brought out various shades of acrylic paints and pained her chair a lovely shade of turquoise with a hint of patina.

 

She lightly penciled in her pattern and painstakingly begin filling in the colors. Before long the masterpiece emerged. When done, she sat back and admired her work. "I think I'm done," she told the papa. He looked it over and agreed, "It's done!" 

 

"Wait," she said. "It needs one more thing." In order to preserve all her hard work the mama applied several coats of polyurethane and set the chair aside to dry. She could hardly contain her excitement but forced herself to waited the required 48 hours before taking her chair out to meet her siblings. 

Aptly named, the Sunflower Chair, she looks lovely sitting beside one of the Sunny Twins. The mama looks out her kitchen window, sees her chairs sitting together, and thinks to herself, "finally my chairs are a part of our home. I love my chairs!" 

Now comes the part ... and they lived happily ever after. But alas, our story is still not complete ... doesn't every good story need a prologue?

Apparently the papa doesn't love the chairs like the mama does. In fact, he claims they're hard to sit on! Believe it or not, he insists on sitting on one of those ugly, plastic chairs. You know the ones you buy at Walmart for $10. He's had the same white plastic chair for years. It's moldy and dingy, but the papa loves it. Being the good wifey she is, mama decided the papa chair needed a coat of paint too. So, yesterday she got out her yellow spray paint and quickly turned the plastic-wanna-be-a-lovely-chair and turned it into another ray of sunshine. 

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This chair is (of course) a he, and he sits on the patio among the lights, the flowers, and the now-lovely-no-longer-sad chairs. 

As for projects around the home, this weekend we will focus on getting rid of the yellow jacket nest in the yard and the wasps who have taken up residence on the back porch. And hopefully before too long we will finish tearing down and resurrecting that eyesore of a porch. Now you know why I let my husband keep his ugly plastic chair. I need to keep him happy so he won't rip up the ever growing honey-do list.

Love you HoneyBunny!